Romney fires back: Meet the steel company that Bain helped build

posted at 4:41 pm on May 14, 2012 by Allahpundit

I’m dying to know how much of this spot was already in the can and ready to go when Obama dropped his Romney-hates-steelworkers spot on Team Mitt this morning. Obviously the interviews with the Steel Dynamics employees were already done, but had they edited everything yet or do they just have hours of footage from personnel at former Bain projects from which they can pick and choose as necessary to make ads? If they actually anticipated the GST Steel attack spot and put this together in advance as a direct answer, that’s some mighty fine strategizin’. Maybe they have an entire vault full of unreleased response ads for every conceivable Obama attack, like some sort of campaign version of Prince. Or maybe it’s just the Bain stuff. They knew O would make that an issue. It only stands to reason that they’d stockpile ammo in anticipation.

Note the line here about moving up in socioeconomic status. The Bain attacks are aimed squarely at the resentments of the working class so here’s Romney aiming squarely at their aspirations. Needless to say, it’s no accident that these guys were filmed while wearing their hardhats. Exit question via ABC: Why isn’t the word “Bain” uttered even once in this clip? It’s not that much of a liability already, is it?

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..I have reservations about Governor Palin these days but these are for far different matters and NEVER, NEVER will diminish my respect for her, what she did, nor how she dragged poor old McLame through that campaign..only to get kicked in the teeth by those constipated asssholes who blew the race to Obama.

Sure hope, by the way, you have read her book. (I did.) I am a long way from a Palinista but recognize that she is a person who has a habit of winning the contrast in the long run.

errr… If you think you need a doctorate to decipher this ad, there really is no hope in debating anything with you. Just cant argue with anyone that stupid.

swamp_yankee on May 14, 2012 at 5:58 PM

you have to expect success stories with a big company like bain. just like the horror stories that will inevitably be magnified by the obama campaign. to me, thats a given.
whats beyond that? this is 2012 not 2008. people are still going to want to know about how long those jobs will last, health insurance, gas and food prices.

So, remember how we were talking about McCain getting inside of Obama’s OODA loop?

Count to 10 on May 14, 2012 at 5:46 PM

I was thinking the same thing. And actually, he was. Until Lehman blew up and the market melted down. McCain’s response to that and TARP pretty much nuked his campaign.

Wishes and Dreams and all that, but had the market collapse played out a bit differently (yeah, right), or McCain figured out how to diffuse it as Obama’s Armageddon Weapon, we’d be talking about McCain’s re-election strategies right now. McCain had Obama on the ropes, and Obama was resorting to the nastiest of nasties (look at what he did to Palin, for G-d’s sake). I really don’t think it would have worked, except Obama could play the class warfare card when the economic crisis hit.

It’s pointless speculation, I know. But McCain really did have his sites on Obama. He was playing a very powerful strategy against him, and Obama had no effective responses.

Which raises the obvious question: What will Obama’s Armageddon Weapon be this time? He got lucky in ’08. He’s got to have something in the works this time, so that he doesn’t have to rely on luck.

There’ve been a couple of articles, starting with Canada Free Press I believe, on a supposed “race war” that DHS is unrolling for this summer. Supposedly being instigated through OWS. “Insiders say”, and all that. All to allow Obama to implement some sort of police state crackdown. Starting in the cities. Ultimately giving him the right to suspend the elections, if necessary.

Nicely done. I want to see more of Romney showing how he can help improve the US economy and job situation in a stark contrast to the incompetent currently in office. It’s really nice to see some Not Romney voters reconsidering. Thank you all.

Nope. That’s not a winning strategy for Obama. He needs something that amps up the fear in the populace. His “Hope’n’Change” campaign in ’08 absolutely thrived on the fear that gripped the country in mid-September.

He needs the same kind of thing, for which he can’t be blamed, to happen this fall. Which is why the article about the supposed shenanigans by DHS was so interesting. I don’t by the scale of the conspiracy. But the apparent intent is spot-on.

Obama needs one of two things, both of which are premised on people believing his answers are the right ones:
1) An economic boom. People need to be optimistic and believing that his policies are starting to work. How’s that working out for him?
2) The GAP quaking in their boots. People need to be afraid and willing to surrender to his munificent and wise will.

#1 ain’t happening, so #2 is on the table. It’s just a matter of what form it takes. Is Obama craven enough to manufacturer a genuine constitutional crisis? I don’t think so. But I’m beyond pessimistic, at this point, so…. :-/

We’ll see. According to one of the articles, we’ll start seeing false flag operations later this spring. If OWS starts getting seriously violent, then I’m revising my thinking. In the meantime, keep an eye/ear out for other types of crises that Obama can take advantage of. If it’s at all possible, he’ll pin Europe on Bush/Republicans. Just watch.

And I’m absolutely certain that if he finds a way to get us involved in a shooting war that he’s able to take the high road on (Iran or Syria, or even the Norks), he’ll do it. Yes, I think he’s that craven.

This country managed to hold free elections in 1862 and ’64. I don’t think Obama could come up with a crisis to match the one Lincoln faced, even if he tried.

And I don’t think there are enough sheep in this country to tolerate it even if he (Obama) did try.

tgharris on May 14, 2012 at 6:42 PM

Oh. I pretty much agree. I think it would be potentially bloody as hell, though. The real question is what would happen with the National Guard troops who’d have to get involved. I have to believe they’d refuse if things got too crazy.

But then again, if DHS can make it play out analogously to the L.A. riots in ’92, then how would that unfold?

Again. I’m not buying it. For one, I don’t think the DHS could keep this a secret. Too many people would have to be involved. This is being revealed by one person as far as I can tell. There’d have to be a lot more people confirming it, I think. Also, I don’t see how they think they could get away with it. Ropes and lampposts would not be far behind, which I’m sure they’d be aware of.

It’s an interesting conspiracy theory. And I remain skeptical.

Wait. What? I’m a skeptic? Isn’t that supposed to be “unscientific” or something?

If they actually anticipated the GST Steel attack spot and put this together in advance as a direct answer, that’s some mighty fine strategizin’.

I think the correct term is “strategery”

CA_Conservative on May 14, 2012 at 7:27 PM

Team Romney is like a chess player, as opposed to Obama and Axlerod’s checkers like strategery. I can pretty much guarantee that Romney’s oppo research department has planned for just about every contingency.

To the extent that the Romney campaign is being pro-active with regard to Bain, that may be smart, but it is also necessary. And it has to be a substantive response, not what I saw in National Review about Romney not being at Bain when GST filed for bankruptcy.

Team Romney is like a chess player, as opposed to Obama and Axlerod’s checkers like strategery. I can pretty much guarantee that Romney’s oppo research department has planned for just about every contingency.

In all honesty, I’m impressed with the Ronmey campaign’s willingness and ability to engage. Ann Romney was out there within a couple hours attacking the Hilary Rosen’s idea that stay-at-home women are sub-human when compared to career women like Rosen.

Clearly Romney’s team knew that this was going to be an issue and they did a good job in responding to the hack job which doesn’t even acknowledge that Romney was gone from Bain for two years before GST shut down. But they had this prepared in advance. That shows a level of wanting to win that we didn’t see with McCain who was more interested in running for President than actually becoming President.

Answer to the exit question Why isn’t the word “Bain” uttered even once in this clip?:

Team Obama can easily demonize Bain based on the fact that venture capital investments fail as much as they succeed. If it all becomes about Bain they can attack the way they attacked VP Cheney over Halliburton, they can exploit all the times Bain closed down failing companies they were not able to turn around. They can interview those tossed out of work because Bain couldn’t save the company.

This, of course, ignores all the companies that thrived from Bain’s efforts including Staples. But this is politics and not an objective business course looking at venture capital investment.

To the extent that the Romney campaign is being pro-active with regard to Bain, that may be smart, but it is also necessary. And it has to be a substantive response, not what I saw in National Review about Romney not being at Bain when GST filed for bankruptcy.

Phil Byler on May 14, 2012 at 7:35 PM

I think pointing out that Romney was gone from Bain for two years when GST closed is substantive.

That being said, and it is too early at this point, Romney will need to go on the attack and not just have a good response team. Again, it is too early to do so. I’m just hoping that Romney’s attack team is as good as his response team.

Now, my friends, is not the time for nuance. Bold decisive action is called for. Mitt Romney STILL seems to me to be disinclined to take the kind of action I believe necessary in bringing his campaign to fruition. I hope to God I’m wrong, but I have my misgivings.

More ads about companies you built and saved. Put real faces and real towns on every screen in America. Obama can’t do this. Soon you won’t be able to help it but to associate “Romney” with “jobs.”

Game. Over.

goflyers on May 14, 2012 at 8:52 PM
———-

Your party blinders are huge.

$23 million in property tax abatements
$14 million in tax credits from the state
.25% tax on local residents for infrastructure improvements for Steel Dynamics

“Financing to build the plant is coming from the Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, NBD Bank, Fort Wayne National Bank, Lincoln National Life Insurance Co., the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Germany and the Paris Bank. Capital and Bain Capital are also investors.”

Part of the team, yep.

But it’s ludicrous to claim all the credit when Bain didn’t finance even a quarter of it.

No, saying Romney left Bain in 199 and wasn’t there at Bain in 2001 for the GST bankruptcy filing isn’t substantive, at least not in the way I mean it. Romney needs to defend how private equity firms operate in a free marketplace. Saying he wasn’t there for the GST takeover seems to suggest the GST case is not a good one for the role of private equity firms and raises the question of what Bain did in a negative way when Romney was there.

If they actually anticipated the GST Steel attack spot and put this together in advance as a direct answer, that’s some mighty fine strategizin’.

Not to take away from the oppo research team, but the playbook that Obama and his merry band of Alinskyite Marxists use is pretty thin. It’s pretty much a given that the Obama crowd will go after any Bain holdings that were failed businesses or where layoffs occurred. /Not that McLame’s team would have thought to look at stuff like that, his playbook was even thinner.

Pretty much, when you think about it, the dems don’t have a lot of approaches. It will all be easily categorized (at the high level) into racial politics, gender politics, class envy, and alternate energy. I may have missed one or two categories, but that’s only after about 30 seconds of one person thinking about it. Get a group of real researchers together and they flesh that high-level list and then break out the tree of sub-categories underneath.

Romney has RAPID RESPONSE down to a science. I can’t imagine how fun this is going to be. O’s ad… a few hundred jobs lost in an unprofitable company. R’s ad… several THOUSAND jobs created in a profitable one. We need a job-creator to pull out of this o-conomy.

I bet Obama can empathize with the damsel in distress tied to a log in a saw mill as the log advances into the saw blade or the damsel in distress tied to the tracks with the train rushing forward towards her. Or is he in an electoral meat grinder.

How about Wile E Coyote in the tunnel realizing that light ahead of him is not the end of the tunnel.

I pray that at least one of these scenarios is close to correct. Obama needs to be defeated. But it needs to be such a resounding defeat it drags the progressives down with him. I’d love to get back the old more moderate Democratic party as a relatively sane foil to keep Republicans honest.

Hopefully this ad gets run in battleground states, and heck even in some of the blowmeblue states. Putting this on GOP and Youtube sites is just not going to reach the soft middle that watches Jeopardy nightly and gets their news from ABC. The Rombo needs to go on the offensive and take the fight to them.
Obama’s got the presidential bully pulpit and of course the dinosaur media in his front pocket tickling his shorthairs whenever he wants. I guarantee this morning’s “The View” appearance will be t-ball setups for him to swing away at his talking points about Romney being evil and hating steelworkers.
You can’t just turn double-plays to win the championship, at some point you have to score some runs. To stick with the baseball metaphors, let’s start throwing some inside at his ribcage and move these fools off the plate.

Note the line here about moving up in socioeconomic status. The Bain attacks are aimed squarely at the resentments of the working class so here’s Romney aiming squarely at their aspirations. Needless to say, it’s no accident that these guys were filmed while wearing their hardhats.

Probably no accident that two of the people in the ad were women, and one was black. A good move, to show that some women and black people appreciate what Romney’s company did for them.

And while the video touts Romney’s “private-sector” team, the company was successful thanks in part to big government subsidies and grants — $37 million from the state of Indiana and DeKalb County. And as the Los Angeles Times reported in January of this year, the county even raised taxes on residents to help fund the mill:

The county promised $23.4 million in property tax abatements and tax increment finance bonds, as well as a new income tax to generate economic development funds. The latter was required by the state, which shelled out another $13.6 million in tax credits, energy grants, workforce training and funds for roads.